"the tree is old but it's...Still full of sap..." Ps. 92:14 (NAB)

October 17, 2007

It is the 50th anniversary of the publication of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Like many adolescents of my era, I was very much captured by Rand. Later I learned that one was considered sophomoric when he could explain the entire world in terms of a favorite book.

It took a few more years to realize that Rand’s version of human nature made love – of neighbor, self, God, and country - impossible. The word solidarity made no sense in Rand’s philosophy of objectivism.

A 1991 Book-of-the-Month Club and Library of Congress survey asked members which book had most influenced their lives. As expected, the Bible finished first. Unexpectedly, Rand’s most famous book, the novel Atlas Shrugged, finished second.

Fifty years after its publication and 25 years after Rand’s death, Atlas Shrugged is still read everywhere from college campuses to Wall Street. Given its popularity and its impact, Christians ought to be acquainted with Rand’s work and, especially, her worldview.
…
In Atlas Shrugged and her other writings, Rand articulated a philosophy she called “objectivism.” Among other things, objectivism teaches that man’s “highest value” and “moral purpose” is his own happiness. ...By “happiness” Rand meant “rational self-interest.” For her, “virtue” consisted of doing what “secured” your life and well-being....

Where did that leave altruism and self-sacrifice? As vices….But without altruism and self-sacrifice, how do people relate to one another? Ayn Rand says through exchanges that promote mutual advantage, what she called a “trade.” In other words, as if each of the parties were businesses, not people.

Many, maybe most, people do not only on rational self-interest. If they did, it would be a cold and forbidding world, much like the hellish totalitarian society Rand claimed to be refuting. Fortunately, the human heart is capable of building connections with one another, even to the point of laying down one’s life for another John 10:11 It’s is called unconditional love.. Given the demands of unconditional love, it is easy to see why many would be drawn to a philosophy which does not require it.

September 27, 2007

This summer a relative, visiting from abroad, unintentionally placed her name and our address on several junk mail lists. I can guess that she gave our address when checkout clerks asked for hers. Now we are getting toy and maternity catalogs on a weekly basis.

July 22, 2007
As privacy experts, we are frequently asked about “opting out,” and which opt outs we think are the most important. This list is a distillation of ideas for opting out that the World Privacy Forum has developed over the years from responding to those questions. The list below does not contain all opt outs that are available. Rather, it contains the opt outs that we believe are the most important and will be the most useful to the most consumers.
Many people have told us that they think opting out is confusing. We agree. Opting out can range from the not-too-difficult (the FTC’s Do Not Call list is a fairly simple opt out) to the challenging (the National Advertising Initiative opt out can be tricky). Our hope is that this list will clarify which opt out does what, and how to go about opting out.
In this list, some opt outs can be done by phone, some have to be sent in a letter via postal mail, and some can be accomplished online. Some opt outs last forever, some have time limits, and others can be changed at will. If an opt out is on this list, it is because we thought it might be important enough to be worth whatever annoyance it may pose.
Not every opt out is right for everyone, and not everyone will necessarily want to opt out. It is a personal choice. Take a look at the list below, and see if any of the opt outs appeal to you, or might make a difference to you in some way. And if you know of an opt out that has been important to you that we didn’t include here, please send us your personal “top opt outs.” We’ll consider them for the next revision of this list.

Top ten opt outs:

1. National Do Not Call Registry

2. Prescreened offers of credit and insurance

3. DMA opt outs

4. Financial institution opt outs

5. CAN SPAM

6. Credit freeze

7. FERPA

8. Data broker opt outs

9. Internet portal opt outs

10. NAI opt out

Our recycling bin will capture items not caught by opt outs filed last week. However, it will take time, as the Mail Preference Service cautions:

However, remember that it can sometimes take month ore more until putting in an opt out will have an effect, depending on the type of list. Be patient.

October 17, 2006

On Sunday, Oct. 8th, our son, David and new daughter-in-law, Katherine celebrated their wedding at the Wren Chapel at William and Mary - the most romantic spot in the State of Virginia. For wedding photo’s, go here.

I was privileged to write, and read the intercessions (prayer of the faithful), based on the readings and my own hopes for David and Katherine as well as for all of us. The readings were:

If our work is creative and a service, our spiritual practices should reinforce, or at least not interfere with, it while we are “on the clock.”

Institutions provide much of the resources with which we can provide service and exercise our creativity. Institutional culture also set the context for our work. A culture maybe healthy or dysfunctional. Cultures can be both dysfunctional and in denial for long periods of time. Businesses, being subject to market forces, are likely to pay the price for denial relatively quickly. Government agencies, subject only to James Madison’s constitutional system of divided powers, can survive a bit longer. My church, subject neither to market forces or citizens empowered by the vote, can maintain dysfunctional cultural patterns for centuries.

I’ve not gone quite as far as Walter Wink in suggesting that the Powers of this world are spiritual entities (Eph 6:11-13). I would agree that corporate culture is a spiritual reality – at least in the sense that team spirit is a reality.

One of the essential tasks of workplace spirituality is to positively influence corporate culture, challenging it if we must.

6. This can only be done by attending to our own personal growth and effectiveness. Following Msgr. Chester Michael’s book An Introduction to Spiritual Direction, I see this growth as individuation – psychological and spiritual health and maturity. It has four functions, authenticity, significance, transparency and solidarity.

Authenticity means knowing ourselves as we are today. This requires acknowledging our false selves, as Thomas Keating terms it. The false self is the image that we create as a defense against the traumas of childhood. Clinging to it leads to numerous flaws and shortcomings. Our flaws and shortcomings are real – but not necessarily permanent. They are, however, hidden from us. We can identify them by self-examination. A spiritual director the on-line exercises of St. Ignatius; a moral inventory; or even a business book such as Moral Intelligence: Enhancing Business Performance and Leadership Success can help here. Personality tests such as the MBTI and the enneagram are also tools for self-knowledge. (Many Catholic conservatives are suspicious of the enneagram because it is presented as a mystical tool that one can use to reshape oneself. One would be a fool to use it this way, just as the statue ought not to seize hammer and chisel from the sculptor. Used as a tool for personal inventory, however, it can be helpful.) Once we uncover the false self, we can begin to appreciate our true self - the person God created us to be. This is the next function of individuation:

Significance – realizing the fact that God loves us as we really are: with our gifts and shortcomings. There are a number of ways of doing this: liturgical prayer, lectio divina, (meditating on scripture), and centering prayer all help. To this I would add some sort of mind-body discipline that promotes health and increases awareness of our bodies. Golf, running and traditional Tae Kwon Do are all examples. Significance is difficult for many of us. We all have our own ideas of who we are (or have to be) and are reluctant to adopt another view, even if it is that of a God who loves us as father, mother, spouse and friend. Significance, however, is most helpful when we try the next function:

Transparency – the ability to present our true selves to others in ways that will be beneficial to them. This depends on communication skills, clarity and persuasiveness, and the discretion to avoid communication information that might harm someone else – or harm ourselves. Lastly, psychological and spiritual maturity requires:

Solidarity – the recognition that we are connected by love of neighbor to the familial, local, national and international communities in which we are planted.

As a retired senior intelligence analyst I contend that the Bush administration was half right, not wrong in its position on presence of Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq. This may have led to a worse outcome.

May 10, 2006

Stacy Weiner’s Washington Post story story tells how parents who are not believers, are sending their children to church.

In my younger days, I thought that the adults were hypocritical, requiring children to do something that they themselves would not. It was La Rochefoucauld who said

Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue.

Now I’m inclined to give the adults a little more slack: here is what Weiner has to say:

…many nonreligious parents -- whether they've eschewed belief or practice or both -- find themselves seeking the psychological, spiritual and moral blessings they hope a religious background can bestow on their offspring.Less-than-devout Americans may be surprised that millions of folks share the same pew. Sixty-four percent don't attend religious services even once a month, according to a 2003 Harris poll, and 21 percent don't believe in God or aren't sure a deity exists. Forty-six percent live in a household where no one belongs to a place of worship, according to the 2001 American Religious Identification Survey, conducted through the City University of New York. And 12 percent don't identify with any faith, the Harris poll found.But at some point, a number of parents seem to flock to religion. In 2002, for example, the percentage of fathers who attended church at least once a month was nearly twice that of men who had no children, according to data from a major demographic study. At least some parents likely were motivated by a kid-centric quest.Such parents may seek the sense of community or emotional security they hope religion will provide their kids; they may want a sense of purpose or tradition; and they may be looking for ethical or spiritual influences to mold their children's lives. For some, a religious education simply means giving their kids a better shot at understanding a cultural force that they consider both powerful and pervasive.

March 29, 2006

Phi Delta Kappa has recognized my beautiful, talented and dedicated wife as the Central Virginia Middle School Teacher of the Year. The awards dinner was held in the dome room of the University of Virginia's Rotunda. It was a treat to dine in this building. We could almost feel Mr. Jefferson and his friends there with us. See the Charllottesville City Schools media release for the rest of the story.